TO  THE 

MERCHANTS  AND  PROPERTY-OWNERS 

OF  XEW  YOEK  CITY. 


THE  CAUSES  WHICH  AEE  DRIVING  COMMERCE  FROM 
YOUR  DOORS,  FORCING  TRADE  INTO  OTHER  CITIES, 
DESTROYING  THE  VALUE  OF  YOUR  PROPERTY,  AND 
IMPOVERISHING  THE  COUNTRY. 


"Travel  always  follows  freight,"  and  "Merchants  buy  their  goods 
where  the  products  of  their  customers  find  a  market,"  are  sayings  as 
old  as  commercial  intercourse  among  men. 

Ten  years  ago  New  York  city  received  and  marketed  over  eighty 
per  cent,  of  all  the  products  of  this  country  which  reached  the  sea- 
board. To-day,  more  than  fifty-seven  per  cent,  of  that  business  is  done 
in  other  cities,  and  marketed  through  other  ports. 

In  this  paper  I  shall  undertake  to  prove  that  nearly  all  the  burdens 
imposed  on  the  Commerce  of  this  city,  and  which  threaten  to  destroy 
its  commencial  supremacy,  are  solely  and  entirely  attributable  to  the 
unjust  and  oppressive  management  of  Railroads.  Before  undertaking 
to  prove  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  I  desire  first,  to  call  attention  to  a 
few  figures,  in  order  to  illustrate  the  importance  of  this  question  to 
the  whole  people ;  and  second,  to  the  fundamental  law  under  which 
such  roads  are  permitted  to  be  built. 

THE  VALUE  OF  INTERNAL  AND  EXTERNAL  COMMERCE  COMPARED. 

The  total  value  of  all  goods  imported  into  this  country,  during  the 
year  1871,  amounted  to  about  $500,000,000,  on  which  the  tariff,  or  duty 


2 


charges,  was  about  $200,000,000.  Much  has  been  said  by  the  public 
press,  the  politicians,  and  the  people's  representatives,  about  this  latter 
charge,  and  upon  that  discussion  important  political  results  are  now 
pending.  Yet,  how  insignificant  these  figures  look,  when  compared 
with  those  representing  the  value  and  cost  of  transporting  the  internal 
commerce  of  the  country,  as  represented  by  property  transported  over 
railroads  during  that  year. 

The  value  of  property  transported  over  railroads  in  the  United 
States,  during  the  year  1871,  amounted  to  over  $10,875,000,000,  or  more 
than  twenty  times  that  of  all  the  goods  imported  during  that  year,  and 
the  transportation  charges  for  waving  the  former  about  equaled  the 
entire  cost  of  the  latter. 

CANAL  TOLLS  VS.  RAILROAD  TAX  IN  THIS  STATE. 

Politicians  never  fail  in  their  conventions  to  adopt  resolutions  in 
favor  of  a  reduction  of  tolls  over  the  canals  of  this  State,  knowing,  as 
they  do,  how  sensitive  the  people  are  on  that  question. 

Examine  the  burden  imposed  on  commerce  over  the  canals,  and 
contrast  it  Avith  that  imposed  by  railroad  companies  doing  business  in 
this  State,  and  see  which  is  of  most  importance  to  the  people. 

During  the  year  1871,  this  State  collected  for  tolls  over  its  canals 
$2,813,686.29,  and  the  sums  paid  to  boatmen  for  moving  the  property, 
about  equaled  that  paid  the  State  for  tolls.  Six  million  ($6,000,000) 
dollars  is  a  liberal  estimate  to  put  on  the  burden  imposed  on  commerce 
moved  over  the  canals  of  this  State  during  the  last  year. 

By  reference  to  reports  made  to  the  State  Engineer  and  Surveyor, 
by  railroad  companies  doing  business  in  this  State,  it  will  be  found 
that  these  companies  received  during  the  year  1871,  for  transporting 
freight,  $53,635,589.82 ;  for  passenger  fares,  .^23,094,876.05 ;  and  from 
other  sources,  $4,431,785.19,  making  a  total  of  *81,162,242.06.  From 
this  amount  deduct  $10,000,000  on  freight,  and  $5,000,000  on  passengers' 
fares,  over  the  Boston  and  Albany,  and  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  South- 
ern roads,  on  business  done  outside  of  this  State,  and  it  will  be  found 
that  the  enormous  sum  of  $43,500,000  was  taken  from  the  people  of  this 
State  for  having  their  property,  and  $18,000,000  for  having  their  per- 
sons transported  over  its  railroads  during  the  past  year.  Yet  no  po- 
litical party  has  raised  its  voice  against  this  vast  burden ;  and  none 
has  been  found  potent  enough  to  compel  an  investigation  into  these 
charges,  to  see  whether  they  are  just  or  unjust. 


3 


RAILROADS   ARE    FOR   PUBLIC   USE,    AND    CANNOT,  CONSTITUTION- 
ALLY, BE  MADE  OBJECTS  OF  PRIVATE  SPECULATION. 

Public  use  is  defined  to  be  "in contradistinction  to  private  use." 

No  explanation  accompanies  that  provision  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  nor  of  this  State,  which  says,  "  private  property  may 
be  taken  for  public  use;"  therefore,  it  is  safe  to  infer,  that  its  authors 
contemplated  that  this  provision  would  be  construed  according  to  its 
common  definition.  They  certainly  never  intended  to  make  it  an  agency 
of  oppression  on  the  people,  nor  the  means  whereby  private  fortunes 
might  be  acquired.  Its  object  undoubtedly  was  to  clothe  the  proper 
authorities  with  power  to  open  communications  between  communities, 
for  public  convenience.  A  decision  rendered  soon  after  this  govern- 
ment was  established,  gives  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  powers  that  provi- 
sion was  intended  to  convey.  That  decision  was  as  follows  :  u  The  right 
of  emment  domain,  or  to  take  private  property  for  a  public  use,  being 
arbitrary,  is  barely  admissible  under  our  system  of  free  government,  and 
can  only  be  tolerated,  or  obtain  a  standing  in  court,  when  all  acts  done 
under  it  are  based  on  str  ict  justice  and  for  the  public  welfare. 

Eailroads  have  been  declared  for  public  use,  therefore 
the  companies  representing  them  are  permitted  to  take  (with  or  with- 
out the  consent  of  its  owner)  what  private  property  is  necessary  for 
the  construction  and  convenient  operation  of  their  roads.  When  pri- 
vate property  is  taken  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad,  no  personal 
feelings  are  permitted  to  enter  into  the  consideration.  The  sacred 
hearthstones  of  generations  may  be  desolated  j  grounds  beautified  for 
the  enjoyment  of  old  age  may  be  laid  waste ;  even  the  prospective  value 
of  property  is  denied  its  owner.  The  only  question  the  law  requires 
commissioners  to  determine  is,  what  are  the  actual  damages  this  per- 
son will  sustain,  the  presumption  being  that,  public  and  not  private  in- 
terests are  to  be  promoted  by  the  taking  of  property  for  such  a  purpose. 

Eailroads,  although  unknown  fifty  years  ago,  are  to-day  the  princi- 
pal agency  of  commerce  and  travel  in  almost  every  civilized  country  in 
the  world.  With  us  they  have  superseded  our  ordinary  highways, 
turnpikes,  plank-roads,  lakes,  rivers,  and  canals,  and  become  our  com- 
mon highways. 

Authorities  without  number  can  be  cited  to  prove  that  they  are 
public  and  not  private  in  their  character.  It  must  be  so,  since  nearly 
all  that  the  people  eat,  drink,  or  wear  is  transported  over  them. 
For  instance,  what  difference  would  it  make  to  the  inhabitants  of  Xew 


4 


York  city  whether  a  corrupt  city  government  should  steal  ten  million 
dollars  a  year  and  then  levy  a  tax  for  its  payment,  or  whether  a  railroad 
company,  in  order  to  pay  dividends  on  its  watered  stocks,  should  levy 
a  tax  equal  to  that  sum  every  year  for  transporting  the  necessaries  of 
life  to  the  people  of  this  city  ?  The  only  difference  would  be  that  the 
tax  levied  by  railroad  companies  would  be  more  generally  distributed 
than  the  other,  because  the  poor  must  eat ;  and  if  a  poor  man  eats  as 
much  as  a  rich  one,  he  pays  just  as  much  of  the  latter  tax. 

ON    THE   RIGHT    OF  RAILROAD    COMPANIES    TO    CAPITALIZE  THEIR 

SURPLUS  EARNINGS. 

The  surplus  earnings  of  railroads  represent  the  amount  collected 
from  the  public  for  their  use,  beyond  the  sums  required  to  pay  their 
operating  expenses  and  a  fair  return  on  their  cost.  A  railroad  com- 
pany, then,  as  manager  of  a  public  use,  exhausts  all  its  claims  on  the 
jmblic  when  it  meets  and  pays  these  legitimate  demands ;  therefore, 
all  improvements  made  to  railroad  poperty  out  of  the  earnings  of  such 
roads,  beyond  the  amount  required  to  meet  such  demands,  having  been 
paid  for  by  the  public,  it  should  enjoy  them  without  being  additionally 
taxed  for  their  use  ;  and,  while  constitutional  law  has  any  binding  force, 
no  argument  will  be  offered  against  this  proposition,  for  it  cannot  be 
defended  that  the  public  welfare  is  promoted,  when  the  public  is  taxed 
to  pay  interest  or  dividends  on  its  own  money  or  on  money  never  ex- 
pended for  its  benefit,  nor  that  any  legislation  can  be  held  as  constitu- 
tional or  binding  which  permits  such  manifest  injustice  to  exist. 

ON  THE  VALUE  OF  PROPERTY  TAKEN  FOR  RAILROAD  PURPOSES. 

Many  people  argue  that  the  obligations  of  this  or  that  railroad  com- 
pany are  more  valuable  because  its  property  would  sell  for  more  than 
it  cost.  The  land  in  Broadway  would  undoubtedly  sell  for  more  now 
than  when  it  was  the  old  Albany  post-road ;  so  would  the  land  in  the 
Bowery  or  Fifth  Avenue  sell  for  more  uoay  than  when  it  was  an  un- 
broken wilderness ;  yet  those  streets  were  opened  for  public  use  ;  since 
when,  they  have  represented  no  value,  and,  pave  them  with  diamonds, 
yet  so  long  as  they  are  for  public  use  they  must  remain  free.  The 
same  principle  holds  good  in  relation  to  land  taken  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  railroad,  for  as  long  as  it  is  kept  for  railroad  purposes,  its 
value  cannot  increase  ;  otherwise,  railroads  would  lose  their  public 
character  and  become  mere  objects  of  private  speculation — a  proposition 
entirely  destitute  of  argument  or  logic,  and  utterly  in  defiance  of  the 
fundamental  law  which  permits  such  roads  to  be  built. 


5 


ON    THE   RIGHT  OF  RAILROAD    COMPANIES    TO  MAKE   PRIVATE  OR 

SPECIAL  CONTRACTS. 

It  has  become  a  common  custom  with  railroad  companies  to  make 
special  rates  for  transporting  the  property  of  certain  persons  over  their 
roads.  In  my  judgment,  in  every  instance  where  a  railroad  company 
refuses  to  carry  the  same  amount,  of  the  same  kind  of  property  at  the 
same  rate  of  speed,  the  same  distance' for  the  same  sum  of  money,  for 
one  individual  that  it  does  for  another,  it  not  only  violates  its  rights, 
.hut  forfeits  its  chartered  privileges. 

COST  OF  RAILROADS,  AND  THE  AMOUNTS  ON  WHICH  COMMERCE  AND 

TRAVEL  IS  TAXED  FOR  THEIR  USE. 

The  New  York  Central  .Bailroad  Company  was  organized  in  1853. 
Its  road  consisted  of  several  roads  (built  by  the  people  living  along 
their  lines),  connecting  the  principal  towns  and  cities  between  Albany 
and  Buffalo.  The  capital  stock  of  the  companies  representing  these 
roads,  at  the  time  of  their  consolidation,  amounted  to  $20,799,800,  on 
which,  it  was  claimed,  $16,852,870  had  been  paid  in.  Their  funded  and 
floating  indebtedness  at  that  time  was  $2,511,105.  That  the  amount 
claimed  to  have  been  paid  in  was  largely  in  excess  of  the  actual  cost  of 
the  property  represented,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  To  illustrate :  the 
capital  of  the  Utica  and  Schenectady  Company  was  put  in  at  $4,500,000, 
while  the  facts  in  relation  to  that  company  are,  that  it  never  issued  any 
bonds,  that  its  capital  stock  never  exceeded  $2,000,000,  and  that 
$1,500,000  was  every  dollar  ever  paid  by  the  stockholders  of  that  com- 
pany out  of  their  own  funds  for  the  construction  and  equipment  of 
their  road. 

It  is  true  the  stockholders  of  that  company  paid  the  additional 
$500,000,  making  its  full-paid  capital  $2,000,000,  but,  not  until  the 
company  had  declared  and  paid  to  its  stockholders  an  extra  cash 
dividend  amounting  to  that  sum,  out  of  the  surplus  earnings  of  its  road. 
The  additional  $2,500,000  (making  the  $4,500,000),  it  was  claimed,  had 
been  expended  on  the  property  of  the  company  also  out  of  the  surplus 
earnings  of  its  road. 

The  Utica  and  Schenectady  road  was  about  seventy-eight  miles 
in  length,  or  one-quarter  that  of  the  New  York  Central  after 
its  consolidation  $  therefore,  taking  the  actual  cost  of  that  road 
($1,500,000)  as  a  basis,  it  will  be  found  that  the  cost  of  the  whole 
line  of  the  Central  did  not  exceed  $6,000,000.  Assuming,  however, 
that  it  cost  $10,000,000,  Avhich  it  never  did,  and,  admitting  the 


6 


cost  of  the  Hudson  Eiver  road  to  have  been  what  it  purported 
in  1851,  when  it  was  opened  over  its  whole  line,  viz.,  $9,305,551.09, 
and  add  $2,000,000  paid  in  1864,  and  $2,000,000  said  to  have  been 
expended  on  the  Athens  branch  of  the  Central,  and  it  will  be  found 
that  the  entire  actual  cost  of  the  property  now  represented  by 
the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  Eiver  Railroad  Company  (to  its 
stock  and  bond-holders)  was  less  than  $25,000,000.  Interest  was 
always  regularly  paid  on  all  bonds  issued  by  the  companies  consoli- 
dated into  that  company,  and  liberal  and  regular  dividends  on  all 
stock,  except  about  $3,750,000  outstanding  against  the  Hudson  Eiver 
Company  during  the  first  thirteen  years  of  its  existence.  To  cover 
that  deficiency,  that  company  issued  in  1864  four  millions  ($4,000,000) 
of  its  stock,  for  which  only  $2,000,000  was  paid  by  its  shareholders, 
since  when  regular  dividends  have  been  paid  on  all  stock  outstanding 
against  it.  Therefore,  investers  in  those  securities  have  no  reason  to 
complain  on  that  score. 

The  obligations  outstanding  against  the  New  York  Central  and 
Hudson  Eiver  Eailroad  Company,  amount  now  to  $105,000,000,  or 
more  than  four  times  the  actual  cost  of  its  property  to  its  stock  and 
bondholders. 

About  one  year  ago  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Eailroad 
Company  issued  to  its  shareholders  $15,000,000  of  its  stock  upon  their 
paying  therefor  the  sum  of  $5,000,000,  or  thirty-three  and  one-third 
per  cent,  on  the  amount  issued.  Before  that  issue  was  made,  its  stock 
was  already  outstanding  for  more  than  four  thousand  ($4,000)  dollars 
for  every  one  thousand  ($1,000)  actually  jrnid  by  the  stockholders  of 
the  companies  consolidated  into  that  company.  And  twenty-five 
million  ($25,000,000)  dollars  would  more  than  cover  all  sums  ever 
paid  (by  its  stock  and  bond-holders)  for  the  property  it  now  repre- 
sents. The  present  outstanding  obligations  of  that  company  amount 
to  $75,000,000. 

Every  intelligent  man  in  this  country  understands  that  the  Union 
Pacific  Eailroad  was  built  by  a  combination  of  corrupt  men  inside  and 
out  of  Congress.  That  the  Government  issued  its  bonds  to  aid  in  con- 
structing that  road  to  a  greater  amount  than  was  ever  actually  ex 
pended  for  its  construction.  That  it  gave  to  the  company  representing 
it  lands  worth  ten  times  its  cost.  Yet,  that  company  has  issued  a 
number  of  other  obligations,  among  which  is  $35,000,000  of  its  stock 
(for  which  no  pretense  is  made  that  one  dollar  has  ever  been  expended), 
which  is  now  being  sold  in  the  markets  of  this  country  and  Europe, 


and  treated  as  if  it  was  an  honorable  obligation,  on  which  the 
future  internal  commerce  and  travel  of  this  country  can  be  taxed 
83,000,000  a  year  through  all  time,  to  pay  dividends. 

Within  the  last  six  years  there  has  been  issued  over  $60,000,000  of 
the  stock  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  no  one  will  dare  say  there 
has  been  85,000,000  of  this  vast  sum  expended  on  its  property  for  the  pub- 
lic welfare.  It  is  well  known  that  this  stock  was  sold  at  from  twenty  to 
forty  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  that  its  proceeds  were  appropriated  to 
the  personal  uses  of  those  who  issued  it.  That  vast  private  fortunes 
were  suddenly  acquired  by  all  who  were  prominently  connected  with 
the  management  of  that  company  at  the  time  this  stock  was  issued, 
and  that  everything  went  swimmingly  with  them,  until  certain  prcoi- 
inent  public  men  (with  whom  they  were  intimately  associated)  fell 
under  the  ban  of  a  just  public  indignation,  when,  immediately,  a  cry 
went  up  from  this  city  and  State,  demanding  that  the  Legislature 
should  pass  laws  removing  the%  directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
and  others,  to  protect  the  interests  of  its  stockholders.  These  unselfish 
and  patriotic  stockholders,  for  whom  so  much  public  sympathy 
was  manifested,  would  not  consent,  however,  to  a  proposition  I 
urged  before  the  Railroad  Committees  of  both  branches  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, viz.,  that  the  capital  of  that  company  should  be  reduced  to  the 
amount  paid  for  its  stock.  On  the  contrary,  their  modest  demand 
was  (what  to  the  credit  of  those  who  issued  this  stock  it  must  be 
said,  they  never  undertook  to  do,  but  which  the  present  management 
is  trying  to  accomplish),  viz.,  tax  the  commerce  of  this  city  and  an 
innocent  public  along  the  line  of  that  road  83,000,000  a  year  to  pay 
dividends  on  the  par  value  of  stock  purchased  at  twenty  cents  on  the 
dollar  by  the  injured  innocents  and  Shylocks  (with  unspeakable 
names),  who  congregate  in  London,  Frankfort,  and  Wall  Street. 

The  capital  stock  and  bonded  indebtedness  of  the  different  railroad 
companies  doing  business  in  this  State  (leaving  a  portion  of  the  Boston 
and  Albany,  and  Lake  Shore  out,  to  represent  their  property  in  other 
States)  amounts  now  to  about  8100,000,000,  while  it  is  easy  to  prove, 
that  the  actual  cost  of  their  property  (to  their  stock  and  bond-holders) 
was  less  than  8150,000,000.  The  outstanding  obligations  of  the  dif- 
ferent railroad  companies  in  the  United  States  amounts  now  to  about 
81,000,000,000,  and  it  is  equally  susceptible  of  proof  that  the  pro- 
perty represented  by  them  never  cost  their  stock  and  bond-holder 
81,500,000,000. 

By  these  figures  it  is  easy  to  estimate  the  difference  between  a  tax 


8 


on  commerce  and  travel  to  pay  interest  and  dividends  on  the  cost  of 
railroads,  and  that  required  to  pay  on  their  outstanding  obligations. 

HOW  NEW  YORK  CITY  AND  STATE  SUFFER.  FROItf  BEING  TAXED 
TO  PAY  DIVIDENDS  ON  THE  WATERED  STOCKS  OF  RAILROAD 
COMPANIES. 

The  Legislature  of  1853  passed  laws  restricting  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral and  Hudson  River  Railroad  Companies  from  charging  more  than 
two  cents  per  mile  for  transporting  passengers  over  their  roads.  The 
gross  earnings  of  the  Hudson  River  road  during  that  year  was 
$1,298,617.31,  and  in  .1854  the  gross  earnings  of  the  Xew  York  Central 
road  was  $5,919,331.50,  making  a  total  of  $7,216,951.81. 

During  the  year  1871  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River 
Railroad  Company  paid  for  interest  on  its  bonds  $721,308.01,  and  for 
dividends  on  its  stock  and  scrip  8 7,25$, 711.70,  or  $761,097.95  more 
than  the  gross  earnings  of  the  roads  it  represents  one  year  after 
that  restriction  was  placed  upon  them.  In  this  connection  it  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  since  then  $4,000,000  is  all  that  has  been  paid 
by  its  stock  and  bond-holders  for  the  improvement  of  its  property. 

The  amount  of  interest  paid  on  the  bonds  of  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  Company,  between  1854  and  1869,  amounted  to  $15,099,067.58, 
and  the  sums  paid  for  dividends  on  its  stock  during  the  same  time 
amounted  to  $31,063,500  33.  There  was  paid,  for  interest  on  the  bonds 
of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company,  between  1852  and  1869,  the 
sum  of  $9,003,580.79,  and  for  dividends  on  its  stock,  from  1862  until 
1869,  $1,566,608.77.  The  sums  paid  for  interest  on  the  bonds  of  the 
New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company  during  the 
years  1870  and  1871  amounted  to  $1,815,148.84,  and  for  dividends  on  its 
stock  and  scrip  $14,119,982.99;  to  these  amounts  add  $2,000,000 
paid  in  the  stock  of  the  Hudson  River  Company  in  1864,  and 
$8,000,000  paid,  or  to  be  paid,  on  the  stock  and  bonds  of  the  New  York 
Central  and  Hudson  River  Company  during  the  present  year,  and 
it  will  be  found  that  the  people  have  paid  for  the  use  of  the  road  now 
represented  by  that  company,  for  interest  and  dividends  alone,  the 
enormous  sum  of  $86,757,839.30  during  the  last  eighteen  years,  and 
that,  if  the  present  annual  amount  of  interest  and  dividends  are  con- 
tinued during  the  next  eighteen  years,  it  will  impose  a  burden 
amounting  to  $144,000,000  to  meet  and  pay  such  demands. 

Had  that  company  been  restricted  during  those  years  to  the  pay- 
ment of  eight  per  cent,  per  annum  on  $25,000,000,  or  the  actual  cost  of 


9 


its  property  to  its  stock  and  bond -holders,  the  burden  imposed  for  that 
purpose  would  have  amounted  to  less  than  $36,000,000;  and  if  such  a 
restriction  was  now  placed  upon  it,  the  net  saving  to  the  public  requir- 
ing the  use  of  its  road,  would  amount  to  $108,000,000  during  the  nex 
eighteen  years  to  come. 

The  combined  capital  of  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  Kiver, 
and  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Railroad  Companies,  amounts 
now  to  $180,000,000.  Dividends  amounting  to  eight  per  cent,  per 
annum  on  the  actual  cost  of  their  property  would  impose  a  tax  on  the 
people  of  less  than  $4,000,000  each  year.  By  reference  to  their  re- 
ports it  will  be  found  that  they  paid  during  the  year  1871,  for  interest 
and  dividends,  the  sum  of  $12,687,037.02,  or  more  than  twenty-Jive  per 
cent,  on  the  actual  cost  of  their  property. 

Assuming  that  a  tax  of  two  per  cent,  imposed  on  property  in  transit 
would  divert  it  into  other  channels,  it  will  be  found  that  this  city  lost 
the  profits,  on  handling  and  marketing,  over  four  hundred  and  fifty 
(6150,000,000)  millions  of  property  during  the  last  year,  owing  to  the 
extra  $8,687,037.02  paid  to  the  stock  and  bond-holders  of  these  com- 
panies during  that  year.  How  far  such  causes  have  tended  to  reduct 
the  internal  commerce  of  this  city  from  eighty-three  to  forty-seven  per 
cent,  in  ten  years,  are  matters  for  the  serious  consideration  of  all 
whose  business  interests  are  located  here. 

It  is  well  known  that  several  railroads  are  already  built,  and  being 
built,  reaching  other  cities  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  that  their  busi- 
ness-men are  using  every  effort  to  get  control  of  that  business  whieb 
naturally  belongs  here. 

Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Boston  and  Montreal  see  the  unfortunate 
condition  in  which  New  York  is  placed,  and  each  hastens  to  take 
advantage  of  her  situation. 

Baltimore  illustrates  her  advantages  better  than  either,  because,  the 
obligations  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  represent  nearer 
the  cost  of  its  road,  than  any  other  now  competing  for  the  Western 
trade.  By  that  line  wheat  is  transported  from  Milwaukee  and  Chicago 
to  Baltimore  at  from  five  to  eight  cents  per  bushel  less  than  it  is  over 
railroads  terminating  here.  While  Western  merchants  have  their 
freights  shipped  at  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  cents  per  hundred  lbs. 
less,  over  that  road  to  or  from  Baltimore  than  they  can  over  railroads 
entering  this  city.  Since  1864  the  equipment  and  tonnage  of  that  road 
has  nearly  doubled,  yet  that  company  pays  no  more  dividends  now  than 
it  did  then,  and  much  less  interest  on  its  bonds,  a  large  amount  having 


10 


been  retired  out  of  its  surplus  earnings,  and,  as  one  of  the  results  of 
such  management,  Baltimore  is  growing  in  wealth,  population,  and 
commercial  influence  faster  than  any  city  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

The  following  figures  will  illustrate  the  advantage  Philadelphia 
enjoys  over  New  York.  These  figures  were  published  in  1868,  since 
when,  owing  to  their  damaging  influence,  the  New  York  companies 
have  ceased  to  make  reports  whereby  any  comparison  can  be  made. 

The  increase  of  the  total  freight  business  on  the  Erie  road,  between 
1862  and  1867,  was  57  per  cent.,  on  the  Pennsylvania  Central  59  per 
cent.,  on  the  New  York  Central  22  per  cent.,  on  the  Hudson  Elver  21 
per  cent.,  and  on  the  Harlem  5^  per  cent.  The  increase  of  charges  per 
ton  per  mile  on  the  Erie,  during  the  same  years,  was  5J  per  cent.,  on 
the  New  York  Central  14  per  cent.,  on  the  Hudson  River  70  per  cent., 
and  on  the  Harlem  91  per  cent.,  while  the  reduction  on  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Central  was  2^  per  cent. 

These  figures  speak  louder  than  any  comments  that  can  be  made 
upon  them  5  for,  when  two  cities  are  competing  for  the  same  business 
under  such  circumstances  one  must  go  into  decay,  while  the  other 
must  rise  and  prosper  on  the  downfall  of  its  competitor. 

During  the  last  winter  many  of  the  leading  merchants  of  Albany 
sent  me  letters  stating  that  they  were  compelled  to  buy  the  most  of 
their  heavy  goods  in  Boston  during  that  season,  in  consequence  of 
the  difference  in  freight  charges  between  that  city  and  those  charged 
from  New  York,  the  former  being  forty  cents  per  hundred  over  the 
Boston  and  Albany  road,  two  hundred  miles,  against  fifty -five  cents 
per  hundred  over  the  Hudson  River  road,  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
miles. 

Letters  of  like  import  were  received  from  prominent  merchants  and 
manufacturers  in  Hudson,  Troy,  Schenectady,  Utica,  Syracuse,  Roch- 
ester, and  other  cities.  These  letters  were  read  before  committees  of 
the  Legislature,  who  were  urged  to  report  some  bill  for  the  relief  of 
their  authors ;  but  to  all  such  appeals  they  turned  a  deaf  ear. 

In  this  connection  it  might  be  asked,  What  difference  it  would 
make  to  the  merchants  of  New  York  city  whether  a  drought  destroyed 
the  crops  of  this  country,  or  whether  the  expense  of  transporting  them 
to  a  market  reached  such  an  extent  that  its  producers  could  not 
pay  for  the  goods  on  which  the  New  York  merchant  makes  his  profit, 
or  whether  cheaper  transportation  and  superior  facilities  attracts  the 
merchants  of  this  country  to  other  cities  to  buy  their  goods  ?  or  how 
long  it  is  expected  they  will  come  here  to  make  their  purchases,  under 


11 


a  promise  of  cheap  freight  rates,  and  then  have  them  suddenly  ad- 
vanced before  their  goods  are  ready  for  shipment  ?  Every  business 
man  knows  that  country  merchants  are  leaving  here  daily  to  make 
their  purchases  in  other  cities,  in  consequence  of  the  advanced  rates 
recently  established  on  freights  bound  west  from  this  city. 

These  are  questions  of  vital  importance  to  every  person  having  any 
business  or  property  interest  in  or  about  this  city,  for  upon  them 
depends  its  future  commercial  supremacy,  on  which  all  property  values 
in  this  communitv  are  based. 

%j 

The  people  of  this  State  are  alive  to  the  importance  of  this  ques- 
tion, as  was  manifested  by  over  sixty  thousand  of  them  petitioning 
the  Legislature  of  1871  to  pass  measures  which  would  relieve  them 
from  "  the  unjust  and  oppressive  management  of  railroad  companies 
doing  business  in  this  State."  The  reason  why  this  is  so,  is  because 
the  great  profits  made  by  railroad  companies  is  on  their  local  or  way 
business — in  other  words,  out  of  the  people  who  are  obliged  to  use 
their  roads.  A  farmers'  club  in  one  of  the  western  counties  of  this 
State  resolved,  last  February,  that  farming  could  no  longer  be  carried 
on  at  a  profit  in  Western  Sew  York,  because  it  cost  farmers  residing 
there  more  to  get  their  produce  to  market  than  it  did  those  living  a 
thousand  miles  farther  west,  whose  business  is  sought  after  by  railroad 
companies,  and  pays  them  handsome  profits,  even  over  the  longer  dis- 
tance ;  and  it  is  useless  to  tell  the  merchants  of  Xew  York  city  that 
country  merchants  doing  business  in  this  State  make  the  same 
complaint. 

THE  REASONS  WHY  SUCH  THINGS  EXIST. 

A  member  of  the  last  Assembly  informed  the  people  of  this  city, 
through  a  communication  addressed  to  them,  that  he  resigned  his  seat 
in  that  body  rather  than  sit  there  and  see  men  all  around  him  daily 
taking  bribes  for  their  votes.  He  said  u  Yanderbilt  owned  that  Legis- 
lature," and,  so  far  as  the  railroad  interests  of  this  State  can  be  per- 
sonified by  one  name,  he  did ;  for,  to  my  knowledge,  over  eighty-five 
of  its  members  left  Albany  with  his  money  in  their  pockets.  But 
that  was  nothing  new;  the  same  thing  has  existed  for  many  years, 
and  frequently  to  a  greater  extent.  And  I  know  that  nine  dollars  out  of 
every  ten  spent  in  Albany  during  the  last  fifteen  years  to  corrupt  the 
people's  representatives  came  from  persons  interested  in  railroads 
already  built,  or  from  those  who  desired  the  privilege  of  building  them 
— the  bulk,  however,  always  coming  from  those  representing  either  the 
Erie  or  Xew  York  Central  and  Hudson  Eiver  Eailroad  Companies. 


12 


FREE  RAILROAD  PASSES 

are  the  primary  causes  by  which  public  officials  are  corrupted ;  and 
vet  the  custom  of  riding  ou  them  has  become  so  common,  that  there 
was  not  five  exceptions  in  the  last  Legislature.  It  is  notorious  that 
one  of  the  clerks  of  the  last  Assembly  openly  proclaimed  from  his  desk, 
that  all  members  who  had  not  received  their  passes  would  please  step 
up  to  the  clerk's  desk  and  get  them. 

The  constitution  of  this  State  provides  that  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature shall  receive  ten  cents  per  mile  as  mileage  to  pay  their  fares  be- 
tween their  homes  and  the  capital ;  yet  not  one  in  twenty  has  paid  a 
dollar  for  his  fare  within  the  last  ten  years  ;  all,  however,  have  drawn 
the  amount  they  were  entitled  to  from  the  State  treasury ;  and  if  expe- 
rience proves  anything,  it  is,  that  there  is  but  one  step  between  a  public 
official  receiving  and  using  the  free  pass  of  a  railroad  company,  and 
receiving  its  money  to  promote  its  interests,  and  that  an  absence  of 
that  proper  sense  of  public  duty  which  permits  the  one  soon  yields  to 
the  other. 

Much  is  now  being  said  about  civil  service  and  other  reforms,  and 
about  the  burden  imposed  on  the  people,  owing  to  the  tariff  laws,  and 
about  the  vast  public  debts  created  by  carpet-baggers,  and  about  pec- 
ulation in  office,  and,  in  fact,  about  everything  except  the  burden  im- 
posed for  the  use  of  railroads.  An  examination  of  the  figures  contained 
in  this  paper  will  prove  that  the  obligations  outstanding  against  rail- 
road companies,  and  on  which  the  people  are  taxed  to  pay  interest  or 
dividends,  amounts  to  more  than  the  debt  of  the  whole  country  com- 
bined with  those  of  all  the  States  and  cities  in  it.  And  the  stupidest 
man  in  the  land  knows  that  nine-tenths  of  the  corruption  among  public 
officials  and  the  public  press  comes  from  railroad  influence. 

A  very  distinguished  man,  recently  placed  in  nomination  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  stated  that  the  one  great  fault  of  our  Gov- 
ernment was  in  permitting  public  debts  to  be  created  for  any  purpose. 
That  opinion  has  been  generally  condemned  by  the  public  as  being  too  • 
narrow  to  carry  on  the  business  relations  and  functions  of  government 
for  a  great  and  enterprising  people. 

The  people  could  undoubtedly  pay  all  outstanding  obligations,  either 
of  the  nation,  or  of  States,  cities,  or  corporations,  to  the  extent  of  the 
money  paid  into  their  treasuries.  The  trouble  is,  that  public  obligations 
are  permitted  to  be  issued  at  less  than  their  par  value,  or  are  increased 
in  value  or  volume  after  they  are  issued,  or  their  payment  promised 
in  actual  money  when  the  business  of  the  country  is  transacted  on  an 
irredeemable  currency,  which  has  no  fixed  or  permanent  value.  Under 


13 


these  evils  the  people  are  now  exhausting  all  their  energies  to  pay  interest 
or  dividends  on  obligations  representing  four  times  the  amount  paid  for 
them  by  their  holders,  or  expended  from  their  income  for  the  public 
welfare.  With  such  a  burden  resting  on  them,  no  people  can  live,  much 
less  prosper. 

The  world  never  saw  such  a  condition  of  affairs  as  exists  in  this 
country  at  this  time,  for  in  no  other,  at  no  period  of  its  history,  was  its 
common  highways  ever  treated  as  if  they  were  for  private  instead  of 
public  use.  Tithes,  duties,  and  imposts  were  always  levied  and  col- 
lected, but  the  highways  of  all  countries  were  always  kept  as  near 
free  as  possible,  for  without  them  there  could  be  no  intercourse  among 
the  people,  without  which  there  can  be  no  civilization. 

The  highways  of  a  country  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  it  that  the 
veins  and  arteries  do  to  the  human  body,  and  a  healthy  condition  might 
as  well  be  expected  by  injecting  three-quarters  of  water  into  one,  as 
the  other;  and  the  sooner  the  water  is  evaporated  out  of  the  railroad 
securities  of  this  country,  the  sooner  will  its  legislation  and  its  avenues 
of  intercourse  be  restored  to  a  healthy  and  sound  condition. 

With  equal  advantages  for  transacting  her  internal  and  external 
commerce,  Xew  York  must  always  remain  what  she  now  is,  the  com- 
mercial metropolis  of  this  continent.  With  disadvantages  to  either,  she 
must  go  into  decay,  as  many  great  cities  have  gone  before,  and  as  she 
now  seems  tending;  yet,  while  she  holds  her  present  commanding  posi- 
tion, the  voice  of  her  merchants  and  business  men  will  exercise  great 
influence  in  determining  all  questions  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  peo- 
ple. If,  then,  all  2s  ew  York  wants  to  insure  her  future  prosperity,  is 
equal  advantages  over  the  highways  of  the  country,  and  evils  exist 
in  relation  to  their  management,  which,  not  only  affect  her  interests, 
but  against  which  the  whole  people  complain,  then  her  merchants  and 
business  men  should  speak  with  one  voice,  and,  in  the  name  of  com- 
merce, demand  that  such  evils  be  corrected. 

X ew  York  cannot  expect  Western  shippers  of  grain  to  pay  eight  cents 
per  bushel  more,  merely  for  having  it  pass  through  this  city,  nor  that 
Western  merchants  will  long  continue  to  pay  twenty-five  cents  per 
hundred  lbs.  more  for  having  goods  transported,  which  can  be  bought 
on  as  good  terms  in  other  cities. 

One  of  the  first  evidences  of  danger  to  Xew  York  may  be  seen  in 
the  vast  number  of  legal  sales  of  property  now  taking  place.  This  is  a 
sure  forerunner  of  decay  in  the  prosperity  of  any  place ;  therefore, 
if  her  business  men  would  avert  the  dangers  which  threaten  them, 
they  must  act,  and  act  promptly. 


14 


THE  REMEDY. 

Pro  rata  freight-bills  have  proved  a  failure.  Competition,  although 
sometimes  advantageous  to  some  communities,  always  ends  in  combi- 
nation against  all ;  therefore,  the  remedy  for  evils  growing  out  of  rail- 
road management  must  reach  their  root,  otherwise  no  permanent 
benefit  will  be  gained  by  the  people.  To  meet  and  remedy  existing 
evils,  the  merchants  and  property-owners  of  this  city  should  perfect  an 
organization  which  will  reach  every  country  merchant  and  manufacturer 
in  this  State,  and  secure  their  influence  in  electing  members  to  the  Legis- 
lature and  State  officers,  who  shall  be  committed  to  the  following  mea- 
sures : — 

First.  To  a  reduction  of  the  capital  stock  and  bonded  indebtedness 
of  all  railroad  companies  doing  business  under  the  laws  of  this  State  to 
the  par  value  of  the  amount  levied  on,  and  actually  paid  by  their  stock 
and  bond-holders,  into  their  treasuries,  and  actually,  and  in  good  faith 
expended  on  their  property  for  the  public  welfare  from  the  amount  so 
received. 

Second.  To  limit  the  amount  of  dividends  or  interest  railroad  com- 
panies may  declare  or  pay,  to  eight  per  cent,  per  annum  on  such 
amount. 

Third.  To  limit  the  amount  of  real  estate  railroad  companies  may 
own  to  that  actually  required  for  the  construction  and  convenient  oper- 
ation of  their  roads. 

Fourth.  To  enact  a  law  which  will  punish  by  fine  and  imprisonment 
all  public  officials  who  shall  receive  and  use  the  free  pass  of  any  railroad 
company  doing  business  in  this  State. 

Fifth.  To  prevent  railroad  companies,  under  any  circumstances,  from 
charging  more  for  transporting  persons  or  property  a  less,  than  they 
do  a  greater  distance  over  their  roads. 

Sixth.  To  compel  such  companies  to  make  monthly  statements  of  all 
their  transactions,  which  shall  be  kept  open  for  public  inspection. 

Seventh.  To  create  a  board  of  Railroad  Commissioners,  who  shall  be 
clothed  with  power  to  establish  rates  for  the  transportation  of  persons 
and  property  over  all  railroads  doing  business  in  this  State,  which 
rates  must  be  uniform,  and  in  no  case  exceed  those  now  allowed  by 
law.  To  confer  authority  on  such  commissioners  to  determine  how 
the  funds  of  all  railroad  companies  doing  business  in  this  State  shall  be 
used  or  expended,  and  to  confer  such  additional  powers  as  will  enable 
them  to  reduce  rates  over  railroads  as  population  and  traffic  increase 
along  their  lines. 


15 


These,  to  my  mind,  are  the  tilings  most  needed  to  correct  present 
abuses,  and  make  railroads  for  public  use  according  to  that  provision 
of  the  constitution  which  allows  them  to  be  built.  Under  such  laws 
one  cent  per  mile  for  transporting  passengers  over  the  Xew  York  Cen- 
tral and  Hudson  Eiver  road,  and  one  and  one-quarter  cents  per  ton  per 
mile  for  transporting  freights  over  that  road  would  be  all  that  would 
be  required  to  pay  its  operating  expenses,  and  eight  per  cent,  per 
annum  on  its  cost,  which,  with  fair  rates  for  the  use  of  the  other  roads 
in  this  State,  would  add  millions  to  its  agricultural  products,  develop 
its  manufacturing  resources,  insure  the  commercial  supremacy  of  this 
city,  and  save  to  its  people  $25,000,000  each  year  for  the  use  of  such 
roads. 

During  the  last  two  sessions  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State  I  have 
urged  the  above  measures  upon  the  attention  of  its  Committees  on  Bail- 
roads,  believing  that  all  legislative  enactments  which  permit  an  increase 
of  the  obligations  of  railroad  companies  beyond  the  amount  actually 
paid  for  them,  and  beyond  the  amount  actually  expended  for  the 
public  welfare,  from  the  amount  so  paid,  to  be  unconstitutional,  invalid, 
null  and  void  ;  and  this  paper  has. been  prepared  in  order  to  secure  the 
co-operation  of  all  who  coincide  in  that  opinion  and  are  willing  to  lend 
their  influence  in  bringing  the  questions  herein  alluded  to  before  the 
people  with  such  prominence  as  their  importance  demands. 

In  my  judgment,  one  public  meeting  held  in  this  city,  composed  of 
five  hundred  of  its  prominent  business  men,  who  would  speak  boldly 
out  and  demand  that  these  reforms  be  carried  into  effect,  would  bring 
to  their  support  nearly  every  newspaper  in  the  land,  for,  the  people  not 
only  of  this  State,  but  of  every  State,  are  united  on  these  questions. 
What  they  want  is  a  starting-point — a  nucleus  around  which  they  can 
gather.  Will  the  merchants  of  Xew  York,  as  the  custodians  of  the 
material  welfare  of  the  whole  people,  give  them  that  opportunity  ! 

It  will  be  idle  to  look  for  relief  through  any  political  party  now  in  exist- 
ence, for  if  any  one  is  verdant  enough  to  think  there  are  any  other  ques- 
tions, except  those  relating  to  corporations,  now  occupying  the  time  and 
attention  of  the  people's  representatives,  let  him  spend  a  month  in  Wash- 
ington or  at  the  capital  of  any  State  in  the  Union,  and  he  will  come  away 
a  wiser  if  not  a  better  man,  and,  with  a  mind  disabused  of  many  false 
notions  about  the  practical  working  of  legislation.  A  stranger,  not  many 
years  ago,  after  listening  to  a  long  debate  in  the  Assembly  of  this  State, 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  those  sitting  inside  the  railing  were  the  hired 
men  of  a  certain  railroad  company  who  had  a  billunder  discussion,  and 


16 


not  understanding  the  value  or  importance  attached  to  legal  enact- 
ments, expressed  his  surprise  that  the  company  did  not  put  them 
fellows  to  work  on  the  road  instead  of  letting  them  sit  there  doing 
nothing. 

It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  the  public  press,  and  especially  the 
party  press,  to  speak  out  boldly  on  these  questions,  for  editors,  like 
politicians,  ride  on  free  passes,  while  a  large  portion  of  their  papers 
are  devoted  to  advertising  either  the  securities  of  railroad  com- 
panies for  sale,  their  time-tables,  or  puffs  for  the  management  of 
their  roads.  Therefore,  until  the  public  demand  that  railroad  abuses 
be  corrected,  newspaper  men  will  not  drive  from  them  such  profitable 
customers. 

Railroad  influence  in  this  country  assumes  the  peculiar  form  of  an 
administration  in  power,  conferring  its  patronage  on  both  parties.  It  is 
always  on  the  side  that  wins,  and  never  quarrels  with  the  party  in 
power.  It  assumes  the  functions  of  government  by  transporting  public 
officials  free  of  charge,  and  by  paying  them  such  sums  of  money  as  they 
require,  beyond  the  salary  to  which  they  are  entitled.  It  overawes 
into  silence  all  political  parties  and  subsidizes  with  its  favors  and 
patronage  the  public  press.  By  absorbing  nearly  all  the  money  of  the 
country,  it  has  become  the  principal  depositor  in  banks,  thereby  dictat- 
ing their  loans,  discounts  and  policy.  It  induces  the  officers  of  those 
institutions  to  unite  in  schemes  of  speculation,  whereby  millions  are 
withdrawn  from  the  legitimate  demands  of  business  and  locked  up 
in  floating,  worthless,  and  watered  obligations,  and  whereby  the  busi- 
ness men  of  this  city  are  now  obliged  to  pay  unreasonable  rates  for  the 
use  of  money,  because  it  is  thus  employed;  yet,  with  all  this  power,  it 
cannot  stand  the  light  of  open  discussion.  Let  one  such  meeting  as  has 
been  indicated,  be  held  in  this  city,  and  all  its  boasted  power  would  fall 
as  suddenly  as  did  that  of  the  Tammany  magnates  last  fall,  because 
the  same  reasons  exist  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  Tweed, 
Sweeney  &  Co.  were  mere  agents  used  to  corrupt  the  people's 
representatives  for  the  benefit  of  the  Yanderbilts,  Clarks,  Schells,  etc., 
etc.,  etc.,  whose  private  fortunes  were  increased  by  legislative  enact- 
ments more  than  one  hundred  million  dollars  while  their  puppets  were 
in  power  and  controlled  the  legislation  of  this  State.  Then,  bring  the 
real  culprits  into  sight,  and  they  must  fall,  quicker,  and  lower,  than  the 
instruments  they  used  to  carry  out  their  plundering  schemes  against  the 
people. 

Two  years  ago,  after  having  spent  ten  years  in  the  Albany  lobby, 


17 


I  said  to  those  with  whom  I  had  been  associated,  that  the  condition  of 
affairs  then  existing  must  cease,  that  free  institutions  could  not  exist 
under  such  a  general  demoralization  of  the  people's  representatives, 
and  especially  under  the  system  of  ring  legislation  which  had  come  to 
prevail  in  that  capital.  That,  for  one,  I  was  willing  to  be  forgiven,  and 
that  most  men  who  had  been  connected  with  legislation  during  the  last 
fifteen  years  ought  to  be,  and  to  start  afresh  and  see  if  something 
could  not  be  done  to  relieve  the  people  from  the  unjust  burdens  that 
had  been  imposed  upon  them. 

In  carrying  out  these  views,  railroad  corporations  naturally  became 
the  objective  point,  because  my  observation  taught  me  that  nearly  all 
corruption  among  public  officials  was  derived  from  that  source. 

In  my  first  efforts,  I  was  called  a  striker;  in  the  next  place,  a  fool 
for  undertaking  to  oppose  such  a  vast  moneyed  influence,  especially 
when  it  was  at  an  expense  to  myself  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand 
dollars  each  year,  in  refusing  my  services  to  promote  its  interests.  But, 
during  the  last  year,  the  unkindest  thing  I  heard  was,  that  I  was  a  fanatic. 
Well,  perhaps  lam.  Still,  that  common  sense  with  which  a  kind  Prov- 
idence has  endowed  me  teaches  some  things,  among  which  are  :  First, 
that  if  a  burden  amounting  to  six  million  dollars  a  year,  on  commerce 
transported  over  the  canals,  is  of  sufficient  importance  to  command  the 
attention  of  all  political  parties,  and  the  serious  consideration  of  every 
business  man  in  this  State,  then,  a  tax  for  the  same  purpose,  amounting 
to  forty-five  million  dollars  each  year  for  transporting  property  over 
railroads,  will  soon  command  the  attention  of  the  whole  people.  Second, 
that  no  man  or  community  can  do  business  and  pay  interest  on  four 
dollars  for  every  one  dollar  received ;  and  that  no  people  can  prosper, 
when  one  in  fifty  of  its  members  absorb  a  majority  of  the  circulating 
medium  of  the  country  in  which  they  live,  as  was  the  case  in  this 
country  during  the  last  year,  when  four  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars  was  required  to  pay  interest  or  dividends  on  its  legislatively 
created  obligations.  And,  third,  by  the  conversation  daily  heard 
among  men,  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  an  awakening 
sense  among  the  people  to  the  dangers  now  threatening  our  free  insti- 
tutions, growing  out  of  the  too  common  custom  of  public  officials  accept- 
ing bribes  for  their  votes. 

Feeling  confident,  therefore,  that  these  dangers  will  soon  be  traced 
to  their  true  source,  and  that,  then,  incorporated  wealth,  and  especi- 
ally as  represented  by  railroad  corporations,  will  be  held  respons- 
ible for  them,  can  afford  to  wait,  knowing  full  well  that,  whether  I 


18 


live  or  die,  sink  into  poverty  and  obscurity,  or  acquire  a  competence 
and  the  respect  of  my  fellow-men,  the  time  is  at  hand  when  the  ques- 
tions, so  poorly  presented  in  this  paper,  will  command  the  universal 
attention  of  an  injured,  indignant,  and  plundered  people.  In  con- 
clusion, I  would  ask  all  who  think  with  me,  to  communicate  with,  yours 
respectfully, 

GEOKGE  O.  JONES, 

No.  31  Wall  Street,  N.  Y. 


Iclas»:s 


'When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  heen  said 
"Sver'thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  hook." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


bo  y 


